Developing a new teaching approach for the chemical bonding concept aligned with current scientific and pedagogical knowledge

Abstract

ABSTRACT:The traditional pedagogical approach for teaching chemical bonding is often overly simplistic and not aligned with the most up-to-date scientific models. As a result, high-school students around the world lack fundamental understanding of chemical bonding. In order to improve students' understanding of this concept, it was essential to propose a systemic treatment, namely, revising the scientific content, the pedagogical approach, and the assessment methods regarding this concept. Therefore, the main goal of this study was to build a conceptual framework that provides an advanced scientific and pedagogical foundation regarding the chemical bonding concept-one that will guide chemistry curriculum developers as well. A conceptual framework for a new teaching approach was constructed with lead-chemistry teachers, science (chemistry) educators, and research chemists. We suggest that chemical bonding should be taught based on elemental principles and by using the idea of a continuum of bond strengths. Our process includes the formulation of learning goals aligned with current scientific knowledge. Moreover, we suggest that constructing assessment tasks on carefully specified learning goals, which are described in terms of learning performances, may enable educators to foster and examine much deeper levels of students' understanding.

Framing students’ progression in understanding matter: a review of previous research

“…Coll & Treagust, 2003a, 2003bHilton & Nichols, 2011;Taber, Tsaparlis, & Nakiboğlu, 2012), on the relationship between students' understanding of different aspects of matter (Cakmakci, Leach, & Donnelly, 2006;Crespo & Pozo, 2004;Othman et al, 2008), on understanding materials (Acher, Acár, & Sanmartí, 2007;Krnel et al, 2005;Margel et al, 2008) or on the impact of instruction in order to foster students' understanding of matter (e.g. Adadan, Trundle, & Irving, 2010;Ardac & Akaygun, 2004;Levi Nahum, Mamlok-Naaman, Hofstein, & Krajcik, 2007). In order to address the two research questions (focusing on the four principal aspects and how students progress in understanding matter relating to these aspects), we categorised the studies in two ways: first, for each study we identified which aspects of matter were addressed; second, for each study the span of age or the ranges of grade bands students were drawn from were identified.…”

First-Year College Students’ Knowledge in Chemistry: Is It Adequate?

“…A clear distinction can also be made regarding the phase changes that water undergoes so that students will not assume that chemical bonds are broken when water changes from liquid to gas. The lack of fundamental understanding of chemical bonding among high school students around the world can be attributed to the traditional pedagogical approach for teaching chemical bonding that is often overly simplistic and not aligned with the most up-to-date scientific models [7].…”

Análisis de dos modelos de actividad basados en los procesos de autorregulación para la aplicación del concepto de enlace de hidrógeno a la interpretación de propiedades físicas de las sustancias

“… El uso confuso y contradictorio del lenguaje relacionado con las interacciones moleculares (Kind, 2004)  La inadecuada simplificación de ciertos modelos y representaciones utilizados al describir la estructura atómico-molecular de la materia (Özmen, 2004;Nahum, 2007;Kronik, 2008;Galagovsky, 2009;Nahum, 2010).  La escasa atención concedida al estudio de las fuerzas intermoleculares en la introducción al enlace químico, así como la excesiva focalización en el concepto de molécula al introducir los conceptos básicos de química, en detrimento de otros tipos de organización microscópica de la materia como las estructuras reticulares y macromoleculares, fundamentales a la hora de interpretar las propiedades de los materiales más comunes (Llorens, 1991;Tarhan, 2008;Schmidt, 2009) Dentro de las interacciones moleculares, el enlace de hidrógeno posee especial importancia por su influencia en las propiedades físicas en ejemplos tan notorios como el papel del agua en la naturaleza y en los procesos biológicos, en la estructura de las proteínas o en las propiedades mecánicas de materiales como el nilón.…”